Police Officer Nearly Killed By Illegal Alien
By Greg L | 18 March 2008 | Illegal Aliens, Crime, Prince William County | 50 Comments
The tragedy here is almost too unspeakable for words.
The driver of 2004 Toyota Tacoma that crashed into the motorcycle [driven by Prince William County Police Lt. Phillip E. Harrover Jr.] allegedly tried to flee the scene, but other drivers on the road blocked him in with their vehicles until police arrived, Hernandez said.
Police identified the driver of the Toyota as 30-year-old Obidio Arita-Najera, of 2289 Walnut Branch Drive in Culpeper.
He was charged with driving under the influence, unreasonable refusal to take a blood or breath test, felony hit and run and maiming resulting from driving while intoxicated, Hernandez said.
Police believe the Honduran national is in the country illegally, Hernandez said, and his information has been provided to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
I know it will be hard for Lt. Harrover’s men to equitably enforce Prince William County’s Rule of Law Resolution in the wake of this tragedy, but I can rest assured that these fine line officers will be able to put aside their personal feelings about this incident and conduct themselves as the professionals they truly are. Still, I wouldn’t want to be anyone “on the bubble” tomorrow, as I an certain that Prince William County Police Officers have a new motivation to be utterly diligent in their determination to strictly enforce the law.
Let’s hope that Lt. Harrover makes a full and speedy recovery. Prayers in this regard help.
UPDATE: Get well cards can be sent to
Lieutenant Phillip Harrover
Fairfax Hospital
300 Gallows Road
Falls Church, VA 22042
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From the article:
Harrover was thrown from his motorcycle, hitting a 2003 Jeep Wrangler, said Officer Erika Hernandez, police spokeswoman.
Is this Lt. Harrover the same Harrover from Manassas Next?
“Ari Stotle said on 18 Mar 2008 at 8:08 am:
Is this Lt. Harrover the same Harrover from Manassas Next?”
Ari,
The Harrover from Manassas next is City Councilman Andrew Harrover, who is not a police officer.
Greg,
You have taken a lot of heat from Mexicans Without Borders and other organizations, as well as some individuals who claim to be some “moderate voices of reason” when in fact they are indeed “do nothings” on the issue of illegal aliens. They are especially critical of the words that you use, such as “carnage inflicted upon the community” by illegal aliens who commit other crimes, while unlawfully residing in the community.
If I were out for a Saturday afternoon drive on my motorcycle, enjoying the beautiful NoVA Spring weather, and a drunk illegal alien crossed the dividing line, hit me and caused me to be thrown some distance striking another vehicle, and then tried to flee the seen, I think the word “carnage” is quite an accurate description of what was inflected upon me.
Some will come back and say, “crimes like these are also committed by American citizens”, and they would be right. However, this argument is a smokescreen and has nothing to do with the fact that if these illegal aliens were not in our community to begin with, they would not be here to commit crimes.
Must we tolerate criminal acts, committed by a group of people whose very presence in the community is in fact, criminal? Oh, that’s right. If you aren’t tolerant of something, you are “intolerant”. Since they can’t seem to make the “racist” label stick, they now try to paint you as an “intolerant nativist”.
I refuse to tolerate carnage being inflicted upon the citizens of PWC, Manassas and Manassas Park. Crimes like this are indeed “carnage”.
Phillip is my cousin.
Andy,
Your cousin is in my prayers for a full recovery. To have a Police Officer become the victim of a crime is a tragedy.
Andy,
I’m praying for a full and speedy recovery for you cousin. I thought that might be a cousin of yours. This is an outrage. Those good citizen’s deserve to be recognized for their detention of the ILLEGAL ALIEN from Honduras.
Chris
Was this around 6 or so last Saturday down by Target off rt. 28 near the airport? I was driving home from my sister’s house in Bristow and saw a truck that hit a bike but the bike was so mangled that I couldn’t tell that it was a police bike. The police had the ENTIRE area and ALL side roads locked down. I was wondering what was going on there. Wow! I hope he pulls through ok because that bike was destroyed.
Andy, I too send my prayers to you, your family and officer Harrover. Please let him know that the community is thinking about him and we wish him a speedy and full recovery.
Wonder what Chief Charlie has to say now? Supervisors had now better be making his life a living hell until he gets with the picture or quits. This is some pretty hardcore leverage against his unwillingness to enforce the law. He will be choosing to circumvent the safety of his own men if he refuses now and they need to call him on that.
Ohh I just read the link and that’s the same accident that I saw for sure and it was his own personal bike which is why I didn’t notice at the time that it was a police bike. That was a horrible sight and the accident investigators were on the scene as I drove through it. Hopefully now Chief Charlie gets the message hammered into his thick aiding and abetting skull. Our prayers are with you Lt. Harrover
Terrible, my best wishes are with Officer Harrover.
I noticed that this article was on the back page of the MJM. Normally a story like this would have been on the front page. I guess the MJM didn’t want to ruin their stance that illegal aliens are here just to do work that Americans wont do. Andy, I will be praying for your cousin.
I would like to wish a brave man a speedy recovery!! If there is anything he needs help with, let me know, please. Also, this is not an empty offer. I was a Paramedic/Firefighter so an EMS “brother” gets my extra support.
Bayberry resident,
You are right! This story shouldn’t be burried in the back of the paper. It is front page news! Shame on the MJM once again.
All,
I will be writing a letter to the editor expressing my extreme displeasure of their placement of the article. I would encourage others to do the same.
It’s surprizing they even mentioned he was illegal, as so often they conveniently leave out that fact.
Lafayette said on 18 Mar 2008 at 10:15 am
What good will it do? They will publish one letter and rebut it with the fact that space didn’t warrant it to be any other place than where it was.
First, I’d like to offer my thoughts and prayers to the family of Officer Harrover. This is horrible.
2nd:
Why am I not shocked about this? This should be a shocking story buy my level of shock is nill. I’ll paste a post I made to the the new driver thread that I saw just this past weekend:
While walking through my front yard yesterday I noticed some damage to the base of a large tree. Upon closer inspection, I found various plastic car parts littered around the tree, some tire tracks, and a nice little track of dead grass backing away from the tree, stopping, then proceeding through my yard and back to the street (leaking coolant from the smashed in radiator?).
Whomever creamed my tree had to have been extremely drunk. There were no signs of them slamming on their brakes. My house is on a corner of two streets, so the only thing I can think of is whomever did this was going so fast that they decided to run the stop sign and figured they’d just cut through my front yard oblivious to the huge tree growing right in the middle of it.
I can’t even park in front of my house anymore because the last time I did it, within 15 minutes of me parking my 2 week old car there it got creamed by a drunk hispanic guy that backed up and sped away (luckily I heard the commotion and ran out there just in time to get his plate number).
Now I can’t even sit in my front yard.
At least I can look at the bright side. Tree one, assinine driver zero.
Mando said on 18 Mar 2008 at 10:25 am:
I would think with all of the drunken action in your neighborhood, the PWCPD or city PD would be in your area. Maybe a call to report the tree would help.
What happened with the creamed car case?
/\/\3|)iç 64 (Winner of the BVBL 40k and 50k post award) said on 18 Mar 2008 at 10:24 am:
Well, I think it’s worth a shot anyways. One never knows. I admit, I truly can’t imagine them printing multiple letters regarding their total lack of good judgment. We should “put them to the test” at the very least. IMHO
Lt. Harrover is a great supervisor who has the respect of the officers in his command. I ask that all the readers of this blog to keep him and his family in thier prayers.
He is an asset to the Prince William County Police Department.
To Lt. Harrover and your family,
We have you in our prayers. We pray that you have a quick recovery.
To Jackson Miller,
When are you going to come back and patrol my street? We need you. The good neighbors of Westgate miss you!
Jackson and Andy H.:
Lt. Harrover certainly will be in my prayers. Please keep us updated on his condition, and send our thanks for his service to the community.
And thank you for your service, also.
Jackson,
WestGate is eagerly awaiting your return. Pehaps, our Neighborhood Watch will be up running when you make it back here. Thank you for all you do.
It sure is nice to have 2 less vacant houses on my block. My mom is quite happy to no longer have a vacant house next door to her. Or one occupied by squatters as it was before it finally became vacant. My mom thanks you too.
Chris
/\/\3|)iç 64 (Winner of the BVBL 40k and 50k post award) said on 18 Mar 2008 at 10:38 am:
Mando said on 18 Mar 2008 at 10:25 am:
I would think with all of the drunken action in your neighborhood, the PWCPD or city PD would be in your area. Maybe a call to report the tree would help.
What happened with the creamed car case?
Same thing happened a few years ago where my car was parked on the side of the house and was a “victim” of a hit-and-run. No one in neighborhood saw anything. Called the county police to report it and was given a case number over the phone and was asked to let the police know if I learned anything else about the incident. Guess they were too busy (on a Sunday) to come out and look for themselves.
The story should have been on the FRONT PAGE - not on the back page of the MJM! I almost missed it. My prayers go out to Lt. Harrover. These illegal aliens have got to go before they destroy more precious lives! Andy, I hope your cousin makes a quick and full recovery! Our prayers are with you and your family!
Harrover is well-liked by everyone in the P.D.
I hope any disability that may occur from this incident is properly addressed by the Chief’s Office. Approximately 4-5 yrs. ago Officer Matt Jacques was struck by a driver fleeing arrest & it was a long struggle with Charlie Deane working against him to qualify for disability. I don’t know the whole story but while speaking to Jacques I learned he suffered a seious back injury after the impact of the accident tossed him 40 ft. into a ditch. He was forced to continue employment during his claim while Deane led the effort to deny him any supplemental disability payment from PWC. Even after doctors agreed that his injuries were career ending.
Jacques was an aggressive officer who seemed to always be in the middle of chasing criminals. After speaking to him while he was waiting for the results of the disabiliy claim, it was obvious that he was left in bad shape from the accident. The moral thing to do would have been to help expedite his claim.
I’m also reminded of Steve Hayhurst who was involved in an accident while traveling to a required meeting. He was off duty because his squad was not working the day the accident occurred, and Deane refused to assist him in a compensation claim.
I’m not sue that Harrover isn’t better off having this accident occur off-duty
Leadership means takng care of your people. Not trying to screw them at every turn. A replacement can’t happen quick enough.
*/\/\3|)iç 64 (Winner of the BVBL 40k and 50k post award) said *on 18 Mar 2008 at 10:38 am:
*Mando said on 18 Mar 2008 at 10:25 am:
*I would think with all of the drunken action in your *neighborhood, the PWCPD or city PD would be in your area. *Maybe a call to report the tree would help.
*What happened with the creamed car case?
This has been going on for years. Not quite as bad lately, but not too long ago you could see at least 2 cars per month parked on the road that were visited by the drunk fairy overnight.
As far as my car, I called the PD within seconds of it happening and gave them the tag number. About an hour and a half later an officer came by and told me they found the car and the driver at his apartment and that the driver was drunk. He had insurance, so all wasn’t lost. Ended up being almost $3,000 in damage. Thank goodness I got the tag number.
My son and I were returning from a fishing trip when we passed the scene about 6:15, I thought for sure the motorcycle rider had been killed due to the shape of the motorcycle and the truck.
You have to wonder why the illegal was running after causing such an accident, since according to the illegal supporters, they are otherwise honest and law abiding.
I was trying to get to Church, but the accident investigations unit had the road blocked. I gave up and went home and went on Sunday instead.
I wonder what the illegal alien apologists are thinking. “Oh crap, why did this have to happen now?” and “of all people to hit, why a police officer, and why the realtive of a local official”. You know who I am talking about. I am talking about YOU. You who are reading this blog to try to cast dispersions on Greg, HSM and all of the citizens who are just plain fed up with illegal aliens committing crimes. Citizens tired of your defence of lawlessness. If we are intolerant, it is intolerance of criminals and those who defend criminals acts.
Illegal aliens committing a hit & run while intoxicated has been a problem since this area began to see obvious immigration problems in the early 90’s. The resolution of law will only make them more of a flight risk when these type of sudden law enforcement situations occur. But accident reporting to state officials & local media does not require resident status to be reported. It isn’t something an ordinary citizen would know unless the local media changes the manner of reporting, or you witness the accident occur.
I encourage everyone to have the max. amount allowable for uninsured motorists coverage. When these accidents occur the odds are it will involve an intoxicated driver (regardless of race), and it will be a serious injury requiring medical attention. With the large amount of illegal residents in PWC I consider it to be required coverage on your policy.
These types of incidents in PWC are a matter of “everday business.”
Thank goodness we have 287g in PRince William County.
Don’t forget what Nancy Lyall would say. This illegal alien would not have to be drunk driving in Manassas if NAFTA hadn’t been implemented. Because of NAFTA, these poor people must come to this country to be drunken menaces on the road, because the opportunities to be drunken menaces in their own countries have dried up. Oh, and if there was more affordable housing, they could be drunk at home.
I am just thankful that the officer survived. I hope he will recover fully and resume his duties protecting us from drunken illegal aliens like this.
thank god he is still alive
This is the second accident within 10 days caused by a druken illegal alien. Last week on route 7 in Ashburn an illegal alien, drunk and without a license hit and killed a motorist.
GTC, I think an equally, if not more likely effect of this new-found respect of law enforcement personnel in the illegal alien community is that they’ll just avoid Prince William County and won’t be involved in quite so many alcohol-related fatal accidents in our area. They might call this “condido el diablo” or something, and go engage in their reckless and irresponsible behavior elsewhere.
And by the way, illegal aliens were a flight risk even before the Rule of Law Resolution was introduced.
Not Alanna Almeda said.
Of course, you’re not alana. she’s busy at the bocs mentoring her children into the victim mentality, looking for racists under every rock. really, alana, you are beginning to appear paranoid and it is NOT healthy for your offspring.
Legal2,
I think Alanna couldn’t deal with the reality of an illegal alien driving drunk and almost killing a PWC police officer. The only thing she knows how to do is try to make up stories of racism. I guess she thought her diatribe about this blog, Greg and HSM would turn attention away from this tragic event. Unfortunately for her those tactics will not work. Alanna A., Nancy L. and John S. have nothing else to offer. Their sob stories of life in Mexico, their economic arguments and their playing the race card are strategies that not working. What has happened to Lt. Harrover has happened to many others in this area. It is becoming a common event. Whatever Alanna, Nancy and John S. say can never erase these tragedies.
Greg…………..if enforced properly I think you are correct. I still believe illegal aliens will need to witness stories of their friends & neighbors being deported before they become convinced the risk/reward for staying in PWC is no longer worth their stay.
The trend has only gotten worse over the past 20 years as local law enforcement had no interest in ascertaining the resident status of street contacts and arrestees. I
f dropping school enrollments (which appear to be related to rule of law) are any indication of future highway safety, my prediction is that illegal aliens operating motor vehicles without a license will be driving intoxicated in other jurisdictions.
I wish there were a way to trace accidents involving undocumented drivers.
I can testify that illegal aliens of hispanic origin have been responsible for numerous D.U.I./hit & run incidents in PWC……………..I investigated enough of them.
Anyway you look at it, passing this resolution was a step in the right direction to maintain law & order.
Good Time Charlie on 18 Mar 2008 at 4:56 pm:
Wouldn’t the setting up of random police checkpoints (and not publishing the area where they are going to be held as once wad done) to check registration. licenses and inspection stickers go a long way towards controlling the problem of illegals driving as well as drunk drivers?
Lt. Harrover is damn lucky to be alive. He was off duty and on his personal MC by the way. I keep hearing the liberal side say that crimes like this happen all the time in the US with Americans as the bad guys. I agree they do happen but no one can refute that this would not have happened had this illegal not been here. Flip (Harrover) will need many months to recover but he’ll have the support of many friends from work. It is good to see the type of public support here for Flip.
The difference between this accident and one with a legal citizen would be, the legal citizen would be driving his or her own fully insured vehicle and sitting in jail feeling bad about what he or she has done, not laughing or feel like the the citizens of Prince William County are picking on them.
Flip get well quick
Joker,
I agree with your post completely. I’d like to add this. Had this been caused by a legal citizen rest assured it would have been on the FRONT PAGE of the MJM.
It is great to see so many well wishers.
And don’t forget about the illegal alien that just recently killed 2 children
when hitting their School bus. No license ,No isurance. WTF!
Officer Harrover is also my cousin, although we are diiferent generations, as I am only 24- but I lost a very dear friend my ago about 2 years ago in an almost identical accident and I think this is ridiculous. Unfortunately I’m sure these incidences are far from over and this illegal immigrant problem will not be resolved anytime soon. I’m sure this very guilty man will be deported and then will be back within the US before the year is out. An update, Phil is okay, he will survive- but my family has told me he is in immense pain and was in critical condition for some time. I know all the Harrovers appreciate the support and well wishes.
Response to 999 on 19 MAR @ 11:45 regarding random checkpoints.
During my tenure with the PWCPD checkpoints were almost never conducted because the patrol division was always understaffed & trying to answer calls for service that needed the response of an officer. It was a daily effort to keep your head above water finding personnel to respond to high priority calls. It wasn’t unusual for the evening shift to have 35-45 calls pending on a daily basis. Communications supervisors would contact me telling me they had no units available to send on trouble calls. I would resort to finding a detective working on a case, or a Community Resource Officer getting ready to leave for the day, or just clearing my squad from the building without having roll-call. At times my answer was………..”just stack it.” Not because I didn’t care. But when the damn has more leaks than you have fingers something has to give.
There is the Motor Unit which is comprised of officers utilized for mostly radar, and traffic direction. But it is relatively small, and under the control of the Special Operations Bureau. If they are operating checkpoints it is usually controlled by a list of requests for radar services. If an arrest is made by a member of this unit, it will usually require a patrol officer to transport the individual because they mostly conduct business with the use of motorcycles.
While I worked for Charlie Deane we constantly suffered from sworn member/population ratios that fell well below the national standards set by the F.O.P. I worked several years as a patrol officer, and I only had the ability to work checking details 2 times. Calls for service, investigating cases, writing reports, and prisoner processing didn’t leave any time for pro-active enforcement.
I know Lee Stoffregen is a name that angers many regulars on this web site. But he did offer supplemental radar & traffic enforcement that was reported to the PWCPD S.O.D. He was great for public safety, but practiced very poor politics. His efforts to provide additional enforcement resources were publically labeled by Charlie Deane as “a duplication of effort.” Within the department Charlie Deane addressed the Sheriff’s initiatives as “protecting our turf.” I was there when he said it. Many citizens contacted the S.O. & received a deputy to conduct a radar check point when they learned of the county police waiting list for Motor Unit services.
When Glen Hill became our new sheriff, the radar equipment that Stoffregen obtained mostly through grant money was collected from street deputies, and they were ordered to no longer concern themselves in traffic enforcement. Glen Hill chose a senior staff that included several county police supervisors. Including the Chief Deputy who is responsible for running the day to day operations. Everyone knows how influencial Deane was in encouraging Hill to run for sheriff. As i’ve said before, I like Glen Hill, but contact the PWC Sheriff’s Office and request a checking detail after you’ve been turned down by the PWCPD. The answer will be……….that’s not what we do.
In the past, members of the BOCS have reviewed the police budget & ordered Charlie Deane to fill vacant positions created by sworn members who have left the department, and positions that have been approved by the BOCS but were never filled. Now that he has influence in the PWCSO, you no longer have a second option for additional traffic enforcement after you find your place on the radar detail list as unsatisfactory. There are patrol officers who utilize radar. But unless they are given specific radar assignments, their first responsibility is to answer calls for service.
Checking details can only occur when there are enough patrol officers to keep calls for service from pending an available officer for response. I encourage you to contact the Public Information Officer and ask for statistics of patrol officers conducting checking details. I don’t have numbers. But based on experience my bet is the amount of manpower dedicated for this pro-active activity is at least discouraging. Remember, if arrests are being made………..it will expose a problem.
Are you safer now than you were 20 years ago?
One additional thought……………….their always seemed to be enough personnel every year around May to conduct checking details for county stickers. I found this to be very disturbing. We didn’t establish these check points for serious offenders…………..but we sent a serious message that not paying your taxes by April 15th would result in the full enforcement from the tax collection police.
Good post Charlie. Thanks for your service.
Does anyone have an update on officer Harrover?
Was transferred to a rehab facility yesterday, doing well
You can’t find this article, on the Potomac News web site, using their search feature. What are they hiding? The printed article was buried on page 6 of the Potomac News. This should have been headlines, given the recent history of this topic in Prince William County.
Wow, what a price our citizens have to pay for illegal immigration. I am sure the apologists will suggest that he, like many, many Americans have been challenged with an addiction problem, not his fault.
I do hope Officer Harrover makes a full recovery. Hoping he can take this jerk to civil court too! He may be here illegally, but he may have some resources not yet returned to the mother country.
Well, this illegal, drunk driving, hit and running-alien has simply reconfirmed everybody’s understanding of this sorry situation. He entered this country with no regard to the law, and has continued to live without regard for the law. I am hoping there is plenty of room in our fine Virginia jails to give this young law breaker hard time to think about his actions. This needs to happen, before he gets the bus ride home.